Zaytoun

NOW PLAYING at Sie FilmCenterIn 1982, amid the fighting of the Lebanese Civil War, Israeli pilot Yoni (Stephen Dorff) crash lands in Beirut, where he is taken prisoner by the combat-trained inhabitants of a Palestinian refugee camp. Among the captors is Fahed, a young orphan whose father was killed during an Israeli air raid. When Fahed secretly releases Yoni in exchange for passage into Israel, Eran Riklis’s emotionally charged film develops into an unlikely road/buddy picture. The two travelers share a mutual distrust that borders on hatred, but while navigating harrowing encounters at checkpoints, roadblocks and minefields, they begin to recognize each other’s humanity. With stunning cinematography that masterfully captures the stark war-torn locations, Riklis places us in a vivid rendering of the devastating conflict. Within that devastation, the friendship that develops between Yoni and Fahed reminds us of the possible human connection that is often lost between wartime enemies.